Okay, raise your hand out there if you watch ER or Grey’s Anatomy. It’s okay, no one can see you. And, not like I’m raising MY hand or anything, but hypothetically, let’s just say that if you are familiar with these particular medical (and I’m using that term a bit freely) dramas, then you know that they are really big long soap operas. Greys is, essentially, the on again, off again, hopefully on again (not that I would know) romance of Dr. Derrick McDreamy and Dr. Meredith Grey. Inside all this romance are the daily (read: episodic) events of a hospital in Seattle. What makes Grey’s kinda cute are the running monologues of the lead heroine, the thematic nuances she puts into the story, usually centered around the events of […]
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Layers of Emotional Writing
Okay, so remember Darla from the plane yesterday? (Like I’m ever going to forget her!) ~ We’re going to talk about writing character emotions today, and the three main layers that authors use when writing them. Feel free to refer back to Dear Darla during the examples. (Or maybe she’s already firmly embedded in your mind) 1. The first layer of writing emotions is simply that surface emotion – the name of the emotion. Darla turned me and said: “I’m a little nervous.” She stated her emotion. Examples of this first layer: ~ She stood at the entrance to the gateway and fear gripped her. ~ She could not watch the children in the playground without feeling sorrow. ~ Never had she know such happiness as when she saw […]
Read the RestDear Darla…
So – I just gotta tell you about Darla. I do a lot of travelling and not long ago, I was sitting in the O’Hare Airport when a woman walked into the gate area. She was in her early twenties, and carried a backpack, which she held with a whitened fist. She sat down and began to fidget in her seat, checking her watch, looking at the gate, pawing through her bag. She pulled out a book, and clutched it to her chest a moment before opening it, and pulling out a highlighter. The books said, in large black ominous letters – How to get over your fear of flying. Periodically, she wiped her hands on her jeans, and blew out a long breath, as if she’d been holding it. […]
Read the RestChecking in…and out…
Hey all!! I’m back from San Fran (had fun wow-ing my boys with my skydiving video – my 13 year old said, “Oh, I’m so jealous!” My 17 year old said, “Never in a million years!” and my 11 year old said, (and this is my favorite) “You are SO cool, mom!!” *grin* Anyway, I’m off tomorrow to Philadelphia for the Greater Philadelphia Christian Writer’s Conference — SOOO, more fun pix of San Fran will have to wait. And I’ll bet you’re all thinking — HELLO, are we EVER going to talk about writing again? YES, YES!! Suspense is next on the agenda, and anticipation is the hallmark of Suspense….so….I’ll be blogging as soon as i get back next week. In the meantime, to get us started — WHAT ARE […]
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